I hate that this is the first time I’ve been able to post on the blog this week, but with VBS it has been a crazy week. But what an amazing week. I love Vacation Bible School for so many reasons. But the one that means the most is remembering that it was at VBS at my home church, 31 years ago that I gave my life to Christ. Tonight will wrap up VBS 2018, but I want to challenge myself as well as our church to remember that just because VBS is over, the work isn’t over. In fact, the work is just beginning. Which leads right into the purpose of this blog.
If you go to church, hopefully you have heard of the Great Commission before. I say hopefully, because a recent report revealed that less than 50% of people had heard of it. So in case you are part of that large percentage who hasn’t, let me give it to you. The Great Commission is the marching order Jesus gave for the church. Although various forms of it appear in all four Gospels and the book of Acts; most people are the most familiar with Jesus’ words in Matthew 28:18-20, “All power is given to Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and make disciples (teach all nations), baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” That is what Jesus said, in fact, making disciples is the one thing that Jesus commissioned the church to do. So what is this one word that is often omitted? It is found in verse 20 where Jesus says, “Teaching them to observe all things…”(bold mine). Most of the time people just say, “teaching them all things I have commanded.” You might be wondering, what is the big deal? The big deal is this, the word “observe” means to obey. So Jesus in telling us how to make disciples that make disciples, said we are to go (evangelism), but we are also to teach people to obey what Jesus taught. Being a disciple who makes disciples is about more than merely transferring information. It is calling them to obey Jesus’ words. I love the way one pastor put it on a podcast I recently listened to. Pastor Gallaty said, “if we focus only on evangelism and not teaching then we will have a church that is a mile wide, but only an inch deep. However, if we focus only on teaching and not evangelism, then we will have a church that is an inch wide and a mile deep.” Neither of these are what Jesus intends for His church to become. So how can we teach people to observe/obey what Jesus has taught? I want to suggest three ways, which are the same three ways that I preached about this past Sunday.
Three Needed Ways to Teach People To Obey:
- Teach it. It is time that the church returns to a simpler model of church. Thom Rainer wrote a book several years ago called, Simple Church. To this day it is one of the most vital books I have ever read. Churches often hop from program to program trying to be all things to all people. Our calendars are full of things to do, but not many disciples are being made and not much spiritual transformation is taking place in our churches. We must peel back the over-complicated, bloated church calendar and return to simple models of ministry. I pastor a normal-sized Southern Baptist Church in SW/Central Virginia. We are located on one of the most beautiful lakes in all of Virginia. However, being a lake community means that we will have a transient membership. Summers for us see a lot of guests, while fall and the winter see our core residency. That means, the church has to adjust to its community a couple of times a year. On top of this, we are strategically positioned between three large churches. I’m grateful for each of those ministries, but I also realize that we can’t nor are we called to try and compete with them. Rather, we seek to cooperate in ways that we can to do Gospel ministry for the SML area. Again, this is what we are called to do biblically. Therefore, we must teach it. But it can’t stop at simply teaching it.
- Model it. Simply put, you cannot teach what you do not know. And you cannot call people to do, what you yourself do not do. As the apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians, “follow me, as I follow Christ.”
- Give opportunities. Once people have heard it and they have seen it, they need the opportunity to put it into practice. This is where I preached this past Sunday as we closed out our Mark series. We need to actively be a part of three gatherings. First, we need to be a part of the corporate gathering of the church each week (Heb. 10:25). Second, we need to be a part of a Sunday school or small group study that consists of 8-12 people. This is where fellowship, life, and biblical teaching has a lot of impact. However, there is a third gathering which is often neglected. The third gathering we need to prioritize is a discipleship group that consists of 2-4, same sex people. So if you are a man, you need a d-group of 2-4 men. If you are a woman, you need a d-group of 2-4 women. You should meet every week. During this meeting you will pray together, study Scripture together, and you will hold each other accountable for how you live. This means you will encourage one another, but also if necessary call out sin in one another’s lives. All three of these groups are vital to your walk with God, and the church living out the command to “teach them to observe all things I have commanded you.”
I pray this post will help you, encourage you, and challenge you. If you need to know a good place to start, leave a comment or contact us at westlakebc@gmail.com. We would love to help you in any way we possibly can either start a walk with Christ, or grow in your walk with Christ.
Pastor Justin